Jan
15
Ireland has long been a huge exporter of extraordinary talent in the film industry. From the likes of Neil Jordon, Colin Farrell and the recent Academy Award Winner Richard Baneham. However someone that you might not hear as much about, but who has already won TWO ACADEMY AWARDS is the talented Makeup Artist, Michele Burke.
Originally born in Kildare, she emigrated to Montreal, Canada. She began her career working as a demonstrator for Revlon. She then went on to work for a boutique called Electa and Carrado where she got more opportunities to apply make-up and do consulatations with clients. She quickly got great experience with different faces and for three years got to practise and hone her skills.She got opportunities to go out on photoshoots and fashion shows. She realised that there was a whole world of make-up that she didn’t know about and this is when she discovered there was a need for make-up artists in the the film and television industry. She wanted to try and get into that side of things, so she rang an experienced make-up artist and got to assist her and learn about the film industry and special effects make-up with her on three films. She worked on these films for no pay and ended up sleeping on the make-up artists couch. It is certainly not a glamorous industry, but if you work hard and are determined, you will get there.
Burke’s first big break came when she was called to work on the 1981 French-Canadian production, Quest for Fire. It was a film based around the time of early man. It was such a large scale film, she had to have a whole team of make-up artists to support her. She would set up workshops and train the other make-up artists on the way to recreate the esthetic of the film. It was emperitive that each tribe had their own individual characteristics, while still following the general guidelines for the Neanderthal look. Her hard work paid dividends and she earned an Academy Award for best make-up.
Burke’s subsequent projects, Clan of the Cave Bear and Cyrano de Bergerac, brought her another two Academy Award nominations and a British Academy Award. Commenting on Cyrano de Bergerac she said: “It was a lovely period film which features a slow aging progression for the characters… As the producers didn’t want a caricature, Cyrano de Bergerac is a very good example of makeup playing its part with the character but not making an overstatement.”
After this film, Burke worked with Francis Ford Coppola, designing the looks of makeup and hair for all of the characters in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Burke’s achievements on Bram Stoker’s Dracula garnered her another Academy Award for best makeup.
At the Academy Awards she met fellow Irishman Director, Neil Jordon. They talked about a project that he had in the pipeline: “Interview with a Vampire”. The makeup was designed with Stan Winston who made the prosthetics, but she ran the make-up department, ensuring that all the make-up artist were singing from the same sheet. She designed application charts, memo sheets of the era and gave them each colour palettes of products they could use. She wanted to control every aspect of the make-up because she knew the colours that worked with the film stock and the lighting of the film. As all good make-up artists know, lighting has a huge effect on the way we perceive colours and make-up.
She went on to do a whole host of big blockbuster films including as good as it gets starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt and one of my favourites Austin Powers 2. From her credits it is clear that she has developed a great working relationship with Tom Cruise and has been involved in most of his big blockbusters. Max Factor even chose her as one of their official Max Factor movie make-up artists. She helps them delvelop and test new products.
Michele seems to be a real multitasking make-up master working in beauty, fashion spreads, bodypainting, prosthics, fantasy, period and beauty writing. She has had an amazing career and continues to be a busy successful make-up designer. She believes that if you have a love and passion for it, you will make it. Encouraging words from the best of the best. She definitely is someone that I aspire to be like 
Michele’s Credits:
2011 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (makeup designer
2011 There Be Dragons (makeup designer and application
2010 Knight and Day (makeup artist: Mr. Cruise)
2010 2010 MTV Movie Awards (makeup design and supervision: Les Grossman)
2008 Tropic Thunder (makeup designer: ‘Grossman’)
2006 Monster House (makeup consultant)
2006 Mission: Impossible III (makeup designer)
2006 Zombie Prom (short) (makeup department mentor
2005 Elizabethtown (makeup designer)
2004 Spanglish (makeup designer and department head)
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember (makeup designer: Goldmember
2002 Minority Report (makeup designer)
2001 Vanilla Sky (makeup designer)
2000 The Cell (makeup artist)
2000 Picking Up the Pieces (makeup artist: Ms. Stone – as Michele Burke)
1999 The General’s Daughter (makeup artist: Ms. Stowe)
1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (supervising makeup designer)
1999 Gloria (makeup artist: Ms.Stone)
1998 The Thin Red Line (additional hair/makeup)
1997 As Good as It Gets (makeup supervisor)
1996 Jerry Maguire (makeup supervisor)
1996 Some Mother’s Son (special makeup designer)
1996 Moll Flanders (makeup artist)
1994 Interview with the Vampire (makeup)
1994 Color of Night (makeup designer)
1993 Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (TV series) (head makeup artist)
1992 Dracula (hair designer/makeup designer)
1991 For the Boys (key makeup artist: aging – as Michelle Burke)
1991 True Identity (makeup artist – as Michelle Burke)
1991 Our Sons (TV movie) (special makeup effects – as Michèle Burke-Winter)
1989-1990 Alien Nation (TV series) (key makeup artist – 21 episodes)
1990 Cyrano de Bergerac (makeup artist)
1990 Vietnam, Texas (special makeup)
1989 Stepfather II (special makeup effects artist)
1989 Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (special prosthetics)
1988 Bad Dreams (special makeup effects)
1988 Deadly Pursuit (prosthetics makeup artist)
1986 Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (makeup artist: Mr. Chamberlain)
1986 Wired to Kill (makeup artist)
1986 The Clan of the Cave Bear (makeup department head)
1984 Iceman (special makeup artist)
1983 The Terry Fox Story (TV movie) (makeup artist)
1981 Quest for Fire (makeup artist)
1980 Terror Train (makeup artist)
Michele’s Awards:
Academy Award Winner
Bram Stroker’s Dracula 1992 – Best Makeup
Quest for Fire 1982 – Best Makeup
British Academy Award Winner (BAFTA)
Quest for Fire 1982 – Best Makeup
Cyrano De Bergerac 1991 – Best Makeup
Emmy Award Winner
Alien Nation 1991 – Best Makeup
Hollywood Guild Award Winner
The General’s Daughter 2000 – Outstanding Contemporary Makeup
Saturn Award Winner
Bram Stroker’s Dracula 1992 – Best Makeup
Quest for Fire 1981 – Outstanding Achievement
Max Factor International Makeup Award Winner
Some Mother’s Son 1996
Academy Award Nomination
The Cell 2000 – Best Makeup
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 1999 – Best Period Makeup
Cyrano De Bergerac 1991 – Best Makeup
Clan of the Cave Bear 1986 – Best Makeup
Bram Stroker’s Dracula 1992 – Best Makeup
Quest for Fire 1982 – Best Makeup
British Academy Award Nomination (BAFTA)
Interview with the Vampire 1994 – Best Makeup
Quest for Fire 1982 – Best Makeup
Cyrano De Bergerac 1991 – Best Makeup
Hollywood Guild Award Nomination
The Cell 2000 – Best Makeup
The General’s Daughter 2000 – Outstanding Contemporary Makeup
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 1999 – Best Period Makeup
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 1999 – Best Special Effects Makeup
Saturn Award Nomination
Minority Report (2002) - Best Makeup
Vanilla Sky (2001) - Best Makeup
The Cell (2000) – Best Makeup
Interview with the Vampire (1994) – Best Makeup
Dracula (1992) – Best Makeup
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
The Cell (2000) - Best Makeup
